That’s also the age where I started to play video games.
Simple reason, we couldn’t afford to buy video games when I was younger. Hahahaha…
And I had a Nintendo the first version of the console.
But nowadays, I don’t think you’ll be able to stop kids from playing video games.
Computers are cheaper and there’s the Internet.
You could easily play free games or download a bootleg copy.
It’s much better to teach kids instead that playing outdoors or doing other activities could be as much fun as playing video games.
We were all young one time. Fortunately some of us were young before the internet became a thing and so there’s no record of past misdeeds. I know I still cringe when I think of the things I did when I was younger.
Young as possible, I started with my first game being GTA:SA at age 3. I moved onto Crash Bandicoot at age 5. I’m kidding about the young as possible though, everything else is true. Let your kids explore their interests and learn problem solving with games though.
The cons of playing video games at a young age, mostly occurs when children spend too much time doing it.
If children are taught to play in moderation, as well as go outside( and please, give them a good reason to go outside, not just “it’s healthy”. Go out with them, or if not possible, then get some of their friends together.), it can very well end up being more beneficial than just playing outside or just playing video games.
These days video games are much like the Internet and books as a means to escape the world in one form or another. So I’m not entirely sure what ahe is most appropriate but I’ll agree that too much is not good.
As a virtual hermit myself for various reasons (conditions and resulting bullying) it harms ones ability to deal with the real world and the people in it.
Sure we all need to get away from the real world we shouldn’t avoid it. I’m speaking as a highly neurotic person alot of problems can sneak up on you while hiding in a dark room staring at a screen.
I was a reading and writing prodigy as a child, so I was able to read adult novels when I was six or so. On the one hand, I was happy that I had this entire unrestricted world of words and could wander wherever I wanted, and proud that my mother thought I could handle whatever I found there.
On the other, I did find some disturbing things that I wasn’t ready to handle, and no one was around to explain them to me. I didn’t know exactly what it meant when I was reading about rape or child molestation, but it gave me an early impression that the world was full of dangers beyond my comprehension. I read so much because I was so often alone, so I knew that whatever threats were out there, I would have to understand and face them by myself.
The problem with certain video games and children isn’t even that they might be exposed to something like violence. The problem is that if there’s no one to explain it to them, they’re left with a shocking image and no way to resolve it. There’s a difference between seeing a bloody death and understanding only the danger of it, and understanding the story of why the enemy has been killed. Grimm’s Fairy Tales are full of blood and darkness, but all of it has a reason.
It depends on the type of game. I was exposed to “educational” type games (Often having some element of fun and some learning or memory work) from a fairly young age. They were all pre-vetted by the adults involved (parents or teachers) to have nothing untoward in there. I think interactive learning games like this can be fantastic for kids of all ages in moderation.
In fact at school they often used to team small groups of us up to take turns working through the adventure type programs with the help of others so it was still a social exercise and much more fun than sitting at a blackboard copying stuff down. (Even if it did accidently telling the turtle to repeat drawing a circle 1000 times instead of ten and you had to unplug the computer to stop it again. Anyone who had to do those early mac programing exercises will probably know what I mean there).
If we’re talking non-educational violent shoot’em’ups, then later…much, much later.
There is always that one 6 year old kid in GameStop buying some really M rated game like GTA or CoD; I just think at that age, video games like those will often leave an impression on these kids making them have no respect for human life. I would wait until the child becomes more mentally mature knowing the difference between right and wrong before letting them play M rated games.
I don’t think there is a correct age, I watched 18 films and played 18 games as a child and children are growing up faster nowadays and might experience that kinda stuff at a friend’s house anyway. I guess yeah, as long as you make sure it’s not all they do and sit with them whilst they’re experiencing any kind of adult media. I think it could even help, such as to understand and cope with things that they hear about in the news and the like(again which I think they should experience) or if they have troubled bchildhoods(although hopefully not the case obvs)…besides, I turned out alright
